The Best of Us
by Wombatman9000
Summary: When someone begins targeting Earth's Mightiest heroes, to whom will the Avengers turn to fight the Rising Tide? Takes place after the events of the Amazing Spiderman 2 and Captain America: the Winter Soldider
1. Chapter 1

"Hail Hydra!" he shouted, just loudly enough for the civilians below to hear him. Some ignored him, others cocked their heads and wondered why a masked man was on a rooftop shouting about Hydra. Some probably wondered why there was a helicopter behind him. But none of them seemed particularly threatened by him. "New Yorkers," he muttered and he placed his rifle on a bipod.

His handler paid for thirty dead targets. They estimated it would take as many for the good Captain to make an appearance. Nobody told him why the Captain had to die, but money is money.

The suppressor did little to soften the gunshot. The bullet tore through some woman's neck and bore into the abdomen of the man standing behind her. The people around them frenzied as he painted the sidewalks red. Instead of firing wildly into the crowd like most snipers would do, the assassin focused his mind as adrenaline rushed through his veins. And before his very eyes, time appeared to slow down. He could see each individual movement, feel the wind on his face, and time each shot so that nothing missed.

Of course time didn't actually slow down, it just felt that way to him. But less than a minute later sirens were blaring and policemen were arriving, only to be cut down before they could do anything.

Thirteen casualties, and not a hero in sight. So he kept shooting. When the SWAT chopper arrived the police probably thought they had one. So he shot the pilot too.

The chopper fell to the ground, exploding in an inferno of gasoline and twisted steel. Twenty-four dead, six injured, no superheroes.

Three more cops had to die before any hero could be bothered to arrive. He just wasn't the hero that was supposed to show up. He knew he wasn't alone a second before there was a gob of web all over his rifle, binding it to the edge of the roof.

"So what do they call you?" the boy asked. He was wearing a red and blue suit with black webs splaying across it. If that wasn't obvious enough, the insignia on his chest revealed who he was. "I mean, they call me Spiderman because I'm spider themed. You're gun themed. That's pretty lame."

He was clinging to the wall of an adjacent building, close enough that they could speak without yelling but too far to shoot before he moved. "They call me Sharpshooter. It's a bit flamboyant for my taste, but I don't mind. Makes me feel like a super villain."

"I don't know if you've heard, but super villains don't do well in this town."

"Why don't you come down here and fight me like a man?" Sharpshooter asked as he drew a knife from his belt. It was a gift from his handler –one of many such gifts- a knife made of vibranium, the same material as Captain America's shield.

"I don't suppose I could convince you to come up here and fight like a spider," he replied. When he didn't get a response, he shot webs from his wrists at the sniper's chest and jumped down to kick him. To his surprise, the man was able to evade the web and the kick. As the spider landed, Sharpshooter drove his blade into the boy's back.

"Good talk, kid," he said as he looked over the balcony. The blade had dug fairly far, but it was nothing that wouldn't heal. Most people would die from it, but his healing factor would fix it in a few hours. In the meantime, however, he was too injured to move. "Now where's the other guy who dresses in an American flag?"

The other guy who dresses in an American flag was in fact on his way to help, although he didn't have time to put on his suit. Steve Rogers had only a leather jacket and his shield, but that would be enough to overcome one little terrorist. After all, Rogers had super strength. What could stop that?

Sharpshooter saw him coming two blocks away. The guy was fast, but a bullet later he had a limp and wasn't particularly fast after that. Still, there were only minutes to prepare. Soon the world's most sought after assassin would go toe-to-toe with the world's first superhero.

He returned to the chopper, stepping over a Spiderman still writhing in pain, and retrieved a crate of weapons. Now, these weren't particularly conventional weapons, and they had been acquired specifically for this mission. First and foremost was a pistol used by the Dark Elves who attacked London. It fired a red bolt on energy similar to Chitauri weapons. But perhaps more importantly were the grenades. These weren't typically grenades, they could collapse matter into a single point, leaving nothing at all. If S.H.I.E.L.D. hadn't been destroyed it would be impossible to find weapons like this.

"Last time I was in New York-"

"I don't care," Sharpshooter cut the Captain off. "Mr. Rogers it was quite a lot of work getting you here so I would just like to get down to brass tax."

Before the hero could utter some witty response, a bolt of red energy tore though his shoulder. Then another struck his already injured leg. When the third came at him, he managed to deflect it. Before he regained his senses, the assassin was on him with a knife. It slashed across his arm, leg, and chest before the shield caught it. Instead of switching weapons like Rogers thought he would, he drove the knife into the shield until it came out the other side.

Rogers stepped back, somewhat shocked. Sharpshooter twirled the knife in his hand, tauntingly. He threw the shield with enough force to knock down a Norse god. Only a handful of people could have caught it straight on.

Sharpshooter was not one of those people, so he turned as it came at him and grabbed it from the side. He was just strong enough to turn it so it flew back at its owner. Rogers was caught so off guard by the maneuver that he didn't notice the grenade at his feet.

Before he could even try to move, the lower half of his body was consumed in the explosion. The rooftop was slick with crimson blood. The poor man couldn't possibly live. "It's been an honor, meeting such an American hero," the sniper said as he boarded his chopper. "Such a shame we had to cut it short."

As the chopper took off, Spiderman stood up. For a moment he considered attacking sharpshooter, but he knew how that would go. Instead he wanted to comfort the Captain. He took off his mask as he knelt next to his idol.

"Spiderman?" Rogers coughed. "I'm a big fan. But God, you are too young for this. Are you still in high school?"

"I actually just graduated. Now come on, we need to get you to a hospital."

"Kid, I'm beat. There's nothing they can do for me. But you can do something," his voice was getting shakier. No amount of super-soldier serum could help him now.

"Anything." Of course he'd do anything. He still had vintage Captain America trading cards and an action figure in his room.

"Go to the tower. Find Stark. Make him help."

"Stark. You mean Iron Man. Well I'll try, but I don't think he'll listen to me."

"Take the shield. Show him the shield and he'll listen." His eyes were starting to roll back now. They both knew it was his time to go.

"I will," he said with tears in his eyes. This wasn't the first time he watched a friend die on a rooftop.

"Kid, you're gonna be the best of us. Go get 'em."


	2. Chapter 2

"Pepper," the former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent almost whispered as she stepped over shattered glass and passed body bags. The floor was matted with dried blood and police tape, federal agents from various alphabet agencies took samples and spoke to witnesses, and Pepper just stood there trying to blink back tears.

"Natasha," she said as she hugged her old friend, maybe a little too tightly.

"I'm so sorry," the former agent said as she looked over the ruins of Stark Tower. "Do you have any idea who did it?"

"Hydra," Pepper muttered, glaring at the ruined lobby around her.

Before Natasha could pursue her question, a large metal man landed on the sidewalk outside. The suit was identical to the kind Tony Stark had, aside from a blue color scheme and a shoulder-mounted minigun. He walked through the door-less doorway and into the crime scene and his mask fell back to reveal his face.

"Agent Romanoff, Ms. Potts," he said with a nod. As a military man he was used to seeing his friends die, so he'd learned to hide his pain when protecting others.

"Rhodie," Pepper replied. "It's good to see you."

"I came as soon as I heard. I've been ordered to keep you safe for the time being." What he really meant was that he decided to stay by her side whether or not he had other orders. "Let's go upstairs."

War Machine, Black Widow, and Pepper Potts all somehow managed to fit in one elevator and took it all the way to the Penthouse where the war criminal Loki was famously captured. "Do you know what they took?" Romanoff asked as Pepper took a seat on the couch.

"So far it looks like they got everything related to the Chitauri and the Dark Elves," Pepper replied. She was referring to the weapons and technology given to Stark Industries after S.H.I.E.L.D. was disbanded. The government hoped that researching alien technology would unlock secrets of things like sustainable energy, interstellar travel, and of course, advanced weapons.

"Hydra's gotten pretty bold if they killed Captain America and Iron Man in one day," Rhodie commented.

"The sniper was only a distraction," Romanoff replied. "With half the police force and an Avenger busy, taking the Tower was child's play."

They were interrupted by a knock at the window. Hanging upside down from a web, was a borderline mythic hero. "Pepper, did you invite Spiderman?"

"No," she replied, somewhat taken aback. "Jarvis please let him in."

The window opened and the spider jumped through. He carried Captain America's shield under his arm. "Uh, hi. Is Mr. Stark here?"

It was a long day at 10 a.m., and that comment pushed it over the edge. Pepper just walked away, blinking back tears for the umpteenth time. When she was gone, Romanoff explained. "He was killed today. Hydra got him."

Through his mask, she could almost see his frown. Clearly the boy was a fan, and none too pleased about losing too heroes in one day.

"Mr. Rogers, he told me to, uh, to give this to Mr. Stark," Spiderman replied, handing the shield to Romanoff. "I'll just go now."

"Wait," she said before he could jump out of the window. "We might need you. Hydra's still out there."

"Hydra isn't who you need to be worrying about," a young girl's voice said. Its owner revealed herself from behind the bar. She wasn't much older than Peter, and she certainly looked it. She was short and had short brown hair, half hidden beneath a baseball cap. She was wearing a jacket despite the balmy summer weather, indicating that she was carrying either weapons or supplies, possibly both.

"Who are you?" Romanoff asked with her hand on her pistol, bewildered that someone had managed to sneak up on her.

"My name's Ella," she replied. Ella was somehow clearly shy, yet obviously confident in a way that confused everyone in the room. Perhaps she was shy about meeting superheroes but confident about her ability to sneak around. In the end it didn't really matter.

"And what are you doing here, Ella?" Romanoff asked as she removed her hand from her gun.

"The way I see it, you guys need my help and I need your help."

"Help with what?" Rhodie asked.

"You guys are kinda clueless with this. Does it really seem like Hydra's style to shout 'Hail Hydra!' before killing random civilians?"

"The girl has a point," Spiderman replied.

"So what are you saying?" Romanoff asked.

"It wasn't Hydra. It was a group called Rising Tide. They pretended it was Hydra to distract you."

"How do you know all this?" Rhodie asked.

She didn't want to reply right away, but the more everyone looked at her the more compelled she felt to answer. "My father was the sniper that killed all those people. His name is Michael Turner. They all call him Sharpshooter."

"Wait a second," Romanoff interrupted. "Rising Tide is a hacktivist group. They shut down website and leak documents. They don't kill people."

"That's just a front," she replied. "Who would expect a bunch of hackers in their basements to be killing off Avengers?"

"And how exactly did they manage to kill two Avengers?" Spiderman interjected. "How do ordinary people kill Iron Man and Captain America?"

"My dad, he's not ordinary," Ella started to explain. "When he gets a rush of adrenaline, time slows down in his mind. He can take in a situation as a whole and figure out how to get out of it, all before pulling a trigger. I can do it too."

"And Tony?" Rhodie asked. "How'd they kill him?"

"I don't know for sure, but I'd guess they either sent a team with Dark Elf weapons or unleashed Blonsky. Based on the fact that the building is still intact, I'll say it was the team."

"Blonsky? He's supposed to be in prison," Romanoff commented.

"Yeah, he's supposed to be."

"Are you saying Rising Tide has him?"

"Rising Tide has had him for months. S.H.I.E.L.D. threw him in cryo-stasis and never bothered to check on him again."

"Hey, guys," Spiderman interrupted. "I love this group discussion and I'm really learning a lot, but are we going to discuss what we do from here? Ella, you mentioned before that we could help you. What can we help you with?"

"My dad, the guy who killed Captain America," she replied. "I'm going to put a bullet in his head."

Natasha looked to Rhodie and simply said, "I like this one."


	3. Chapter 3

_Sorry for the short chapter and long wait time, I've been working on other projects as well. _

_To answer Nji, he would take off his mask in front a man who's about to die because there's nobody he can tell. The nearest people are on the ground, so what does it matter if he takes off the mask for thirty seconds?_

* * *

"What good is it?" Pepper asked. Her tears had dried and anger grew in their wake.

"What good is what?" Natasha asked in returned. It was their first time alone together in a long time, and despite their close friendship it was still awkward to not have Tony with them.

"I'm the CEO of the most powerful company in the world, you're an Avenger feared by the entire western world and at least one alien civilization. What good is all that if we still can't protect the people we love?"

"We can avenge them," Natasha promised her with an assuring nudge.

They were in the basement, surrounded by pieces of technology and experimental weapons that S.H.I.E.L.D. gave them after it disbanded.

"Pepper, what are we doing here?"

"Tony kept lots of things down here," she explained. "Things that can help us. Weapons from the Chitauri and Dark Elves. Vibranium. Tesserract weapons from World War II. Rising Tide, they didn't even get half of what we're hiding. But there's one thing in particular that I think can help."

"And what's that?" Natasha asked as Pepper pulled out a syringe. It had an amber colored liquid inside.

"It's called Extremis. You've heard of it. This is its only stable form, delivered by S.H.I.E.L.D. One of their agents found a way to make it so that it doesn't kill the user."

"You aren't seriously considering using that," Natasha interjected. She could have taken the syringe if she wanted to, but she couldn't afford to antagonize her only friend. "It almost killed you last time."

"But this time it won't," she replied. "S.H.I.E.L.D. made sure of that. Besides, what would Tony do? I was always telling him not to take risks and he'd end up saving the world. Then when he finally gave up the suits and the risks and the fighting, he wound up dead. So maybe I need to take a risk for once. Maybe I need to fight."

"Do you really think he would have wanted you in harms way, Pepper? Do you honestly think he wanted you at risk?"

"No, but like you said, I can avenge him."

* * *

Meanwhile, in the Penthouse, the newest Avengers got acquainted.

"So what happened to the Iron Patriot?" Spiderman asked.

"Well after I saved the world, they let me go back to War Machine," Rhodie replied.

"That's a shame," he replied. "We could have matched."

"Guys," Ella interrupted. "Pay attention. Like I was saying, they probably didn't take the tech out of the city. If I had to guess, they loaded it into getaway cars, met up with other vehicles, transferred the gear, and headed to base. Now we just need to find a way into that base."

"And that base is where exactly?" Rhodie asked.

They were all sitting around a hologram projector that was creating a 3D model of New York City. The map zoomed in on one building on Manhattan.

"Here," Ella said. "Grand Central Station."

"Grand Central Station?" Spiderman asked.

"Well, underneath it if you want to get specific," she explained.

"And how do you intend to break in?" Rhodie asked.

"Well, the doors are a solid titanium, no alloys. If I recall, they're about three feet thick. There are three of them, each with passwords that change every twelve hours so we'll need to either find a way to bust them down or hack the network."

"I can get them down," a voice interrupted.

Pepper stood in the doorway, orange lights flickering in her veins. Romanoff stood to her left, giving nothing away to what she meant.

"Is that Extremis?" Rhodie asked.

"That's Extremis," Pepper confirmed.

Spiderman raised his hand. "What's Extremis?"

Pepper demonstrated by casually melting a lamp.

"Pepper can get the doors down," Ella replied, returning to her plan. "After that we have plenty more to deal with."

"Tell me," Romanoff ordered as she and Pepper sat down.

"Close to fifty hired guns on the first level. They won't be too much of a problem, but the second level is gonna be tough."

"Why's that?" Spiderman asked.

"The Gifted are there."

"Gifted?" he asked.

"People with remarkable powers or skills," Romanoff explained. "S.H.I.E.L.D. had a database of them, though I assume Rising Tide got a hold of it."

"Exactly, and while most of them aren't members, those that are can be very dangerous. Abner Croit, Donald Gill, Emil Blonksy, and my father are the most dangerous ones."

"Well this is going to be interesting," Natasha commented.

"I have absolutely no idea who any of those people are," Spiderman stated.

"Well they're pretty interesting, any one of them is a force to be reckoned with," Ella explained. "Croit can manipulate Darkforce, which drains all kinds of energy and is highly lethal. Gill can create and manipulate ice. Blonsky can turn into a creature as powerful as the Hulk. And you know what my father can do. I don't know what other Gifted might be there, if any other Gifted are even there."

"How do we fight them?" Natasha asked as she devised a dozen ways to defeat any of them.

"The same way Loki fought the Avengers," Ella replied with a smile. "Divide and conquer."


End file.
